2020

One

We are half ruined by conformity, but we should be wholly ruined without it.

-Charles Dudley Warner

WHEN Sebastian wakes, he believes it was all a bad dream. At least he hopes it was. 

The previous night was when his family had fallen apart. Just like the rest. An argument. His mother had asked how bad it would be if the human race killed itself out, and with it, the virus. His father had retorted that it would be bad, wanting to risk the entire human race even though there was a cure.

The argument only grew in its angst, wherein his two sisters, twins, sided against each other. Normally they were the best of friends. This had split them.

Sebastian had stood in the doorway of the apartment, hidden by shadow. His mother seemed to be winning the argument, but that was only until his father bit back with this remark, "You'd rather let your son die?"

Silence was all that followed. Then his mother pushed away from the table and went over to her bed. He could here her sobbing silently.

"Hey."

A voice draws him from his thoughts and he turns to see Elidia, his best friend since childhood.

"Hey," he replies.

"What's wrong?" she asks, taking a seat beside him on his mattress. Sebastian had been trying to keep a poker face, but nothing escaped Elidia. She could read his emotions no matter how he concealed them.

"Mum and Dad. They fought last night. And the twins."

She knew as well as he did how close the twins were. If the twins were fighting, their family must be falling apart. The weight of despair settles on his shoulders.

"I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I doubt it."

Elidia gives him a reassuring smile. Something triggers in the back of his mind. Something his father had said. You'd rather let you're son die?

Sebastian repeats this to her. "I'm their only son. But I don't have the virus. I think I would know if I did, right?"

The virus had broken out at the beginning if the year. At first, no one had noticed it as the symptoms didn't appear until a later stage. But then it began to take shape. Flesh rotted on the very bones of the victims. The skin of the face sagged so much that the eye sockets could be seen. The virus travels through the nervous system, eating it away, causing so much pain that it drives the victim insane. In the final stages, it targets the spinal cord and breaks it, causing the victim to be paralyzed from the neck down. And then the heart stops.

"I think you should talk to your parents. They obviously know something?"

"Alright."

 ++

The corridor is cold on Sebastian's bare feet as he walks Elidia back to her family's room. Everything is underground as the surface had been reduced to rubble by bombs and the war. Plus, snipers hide up there, ready to shoot. World War III has induced a terror upon all those caught in the crossfire.

You get allocated a room down here. It's not much, but it's safe and better than outside. Since the war began, this place had been made a safe have. It was a bomb shelter, meant for keeping everyone safe. In the few months since the war began, the place had expanded and more people had arrived. It's run by the side opposing the government and anyone's allowed to stay, as long as if they decide to support the government, they get out quickly. It's not dangerous them staying here as no one is allowed weapons or any communicating devices or those with signals. 

When you arrive, you get everything taken off you. Weapons and devices with signals are confiscated immediately, while the rest of your possessions get checked by the Bureau, the people who run the place. Then you're in quarantine for a week, testing you for the virus. No one's allowed to stay if they've got the virus.

When they reach Elidia's door, she turns around and gives him a hug. She is strong and warm in his arms. 

"Stay safe," she mutters into his ear and pulls away from the embrace.

"You too."

Sebastian pads along the corridor back to the room. He hopes to find his parents there so he could talk to them. 

When he enters the room, only his mother is in there, sitting at the dining table, sipping a mug of coffee. Coffee is rare nowadays. The affordability of unnecessary things meant for pleasure has skyrocketed. Sebastian used to have toys as a child, when the world was normal, but they're all gone now. Everything is. He remembers sitting on a swing in the park laughing as his mother pushes him higher and higher, the sun shining on his face. He hasn't seen the sun in months. Not since the beginning of the year. It'd be summer now, and Sebastian would be going to the beach with a few friends, or maybe even going on a date. The only friend of his left now was Elidia.

"Hey, Seb," says his mother as he pulls up a chair across from him. Only she calls him Seb.

"Can I ask you something?"

She places her mug back on the table. "Sure."

"Well... I..." he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. "Last night I heard your fight. A-and Dad said 'You'd rather let your son die?' Mum, what did he mean?"

She looks taken aback. Then a look of shock and pain crosses her face. "I-I'm sorry, honey." She shakily picks up her mug and takes a sip, clutching at it.

Sebastian slams his fist down onto the table. "What did he mean!?"

The mug falls from her grasp and shatters on the floor, the contents staining it brown.

"I'm sorry. I love you."

Two armed guards burst through the doors of the apartment. They seize his arms. He doesn't resist. He's dragged down the hall and a few flights off stairs. He doesn't register much of it. All he feels is an overwhelming sense of betrayal.

But for what he was betrayed, he does not know.

++

wtf am i doing with my life, seriously, another story.

amazing cover by @_ladylucifer